Use Backlinks to boost your Small Business rankings. Hint: the last tip will get you not only a backlink, but valuable site visitors too

A few years back, I wrote about how I’ve been full steam ahead with participating in Pat Flynn’s Niche Site Duel. One of the main reasons I’m participated in the challenge is not just to have a high ranking site (although we are doing pretty good), but it’s to learn some new tricks that I can use on my clients sites to help them get better online visibility.

I’ve discussed in the past the importance of back linking and how it could boost the success of your site. At that time I was focused on getting a few links to your site to boosts credibility, but now that I’ve learned a little more from NSD 2.0 I know 1 or 2 links will not going to get you any where near the results as you need.

Before I get in to the advantages of back linking let me explain what backlinks are. Backlinks, as defined in layman language, are any links on a specific webpage which gives access to another webpage. Initially, backlinks were used only for web navigation but during recent times, its importance lies in search engine optimization and promoting small businesses. Backlinks give search engines and indication of how valuable the content on your sites is, it also helps transfer one sites rankings to your site (they call this link juice). So it’s important to get a lot of links but even more important to get quality links.

Check out our Backlink Example

You see in the diagram the more popular sites you have linked to your site, the more yours will grow. Smaller sites can contribute to others sites or directly to your own. Every link directly or indirectly associated to your site helps contributes to your boost.

There are times when to many small site links can hurt your ranking, but that’s a subject for another post. Just beware of spam links and growing links to fast. It’s best to get links on sites related to your site and at an even pace. If you see a service that guarantees 1000 links in days run…..LOL

Most effective ways to link-building

Irrespective of the type of industry, building backlinks can prove to be highly effective and profitable for the online boutique owners. Nevertheless, one should know the simple and efficient ways of building backlinks. Below are some of the methods to help small business owners to succeed in the process of link-building.

Guest Blogging

Guest blogging is one of the most incredible methods for building backlinks. There are several ways to achieve it. You can look for blogs which encourage outsiders to submit their reviews, posts and even allow them to become a contributor. These blogs are the most basic ones and produce the best results. I’ve also had a lot of luck with exchanging articles with other online boutique owners I’ve met in various Facebook groups and twitter chats.

written by a business lawyer I met in a Facebook group.You can visit a guest posting network site like myblogguest.com, but you have to be careful of spammy blogs on these sites.

Public Relation Networks

There are several free online portals like HARO (Help a reporter out) which work towards adjoining reporters, bloggers and authors. Using such sites can be a simple way to earn backlinks for small businesses. Most of the reporters and authors post their queries at such sites and all you are required to do is to answer them correctly with all the accurate facts. In lieu of the answers provided by you, these reporters and authors appreciate your work and authenticity by providing backlinks.

Commenting on blogs

When done in an unbiased and healthy way of linking building is commenting on blogs can also be an effective way to build backlinks small business. The focus is to comment only on relevant blogs or posts. However, what is important to remember before adapting to this way, is that your comments need to be very interesting and useful for the readers so that they link to your website. A really good commenting strategy is to look for a blogs with post on topics you are discussing on your site (for example I’ll be commenting on a few post about backlinks this week). I also search for blogs with the comment luv plugin installed, Comment Luv pulls in your latest post, you get an extra backlink and other readers will see you have similar content to the post they are reading and may visit your site too.

Product reviews and giveaways

Online boutique owners that are in the eCommerce industry, product reviews are considered as one of the most convenient and effective ways of building backlinks to your online boutique website. With the increasing popularity and usage of the internet, thousands of bloggers are looking for products to review and giveaway at any given time of the day. And once the business is featured on any of the giveaway site, it is most likely to receive emails from other such sites and bloggers seeking the opportunity to inculcate the same on their blogs. However, the challenging part in this method is to decide which bloggers are worth the time and effort considering their accountability and the business’s profitability. Giveaways also work in the same way, although with a slight variation when done properly, they will also get the business highlighted on social media websites.

Target the Niche Sites and forums

There are specific sites which are designed to target specific segments and portions of the society. If you are sure that your online boutique website is exclusive and visually appealing and that you have your total confidence in the website, you can try to submit the site to one of the niche sites or forums. There are several of these sites which are just waiting to feature brands and link back to their original owners. All you need is a little bit of intensive research and intelligence to these links.

While there are endless ways to build backlinks small business, but the most preferred and authentic technique of building links is the natural way that involves bloggers and direct human visitors. Getting links through these methods are the best method to help your online boutique and website rank high in the search engines and provide content the appeals to your target audience and brings more genuine readers to your site.